


Hit Me With Your Best Shot

by Hobbitfing



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, proto-Nwalin?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-12
Updated: 2015-07-12
Packaged: 2018-04-08 22:12:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4322709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hobbitfing/pseuds/Hobbitfing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nori is looking for a sparring partner who can actually challenge him. Dwalin is happy to accept that challenge. </p><p>Short and fluffy. </p><p>(Co-authored with my wife, who doesn't have an AO3 account)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hit Me With Your Best Shot

Nori leered at the other dwarves gathered in the sparring gym, most of whom wouldn’t meet his eyes. “C’mon, look at this stack of coins I’m offering up. All you have to do is hit me. Just once.” He jingled the coins, tumbling them through his fingers, dancing them between his palms. 

There had been a few guards sparring nearby and they’d just finished up. Dwalin’s blood was still up and he was raring to go again. He laughed when he saw the little dwarf and stepped into the square with him. “I can hit you,” he offered, grinning. “Just be careful what you ask for.”

“You!” Nori laughed, full and throaty. “You think you could hit me?” Nori danced to the side, pivoted backward, and was behind Dwalin, pressing the tip of a finger to the base of the larger dwarf’s spine. “For you, money up front.” 

Dwalin pulled off his tunic, tugged his coin pouch off his belt and bent his head to Nori. “You might be fast, but I can hit you. Are you ready?”

Nori bounced onto the tips of his toes, cracking his neck from side to side. “I was born ready.” He blew Dwalin an outrageous kiss and winked before springing back, bending until he could almost kiss his knees and throwing himself sideways at the same time. He came up well within Dwalin’s defense, tapping the other dwarf’s ribs lightly. 

Dwalin swung a few times, trying to keep up with the ludicrously fast-moving dwarf. He was light on his feet, that was the thing. He liked to move in ways most dwarves would never think of. A few minutes into the fight, Dwalin still hadn’t even hit the air that Nori had just left, but he was learning quickly. 

“Ah, missed me again!” Nori laughed his defiance and joy, showing how little energy and breath he was using to avoid Dwalin’s blows. He skipped lightly around, ducking and weaving. 

As Nori’s confidence spiked, Dwalin feigned exhaustion, slowing his punches. The guards watching booed and yelled.

Nori accepted their jeers as his due, beaming as he threw himself forward onto his hands, spreading his legs to avoid Dwalin’s punch. “Uncatchable, unhittable,” he sang to the watching guards as he regained his feet, hardly paying attention to Dwalin. “C’mon. Hit me with your best shot.”

Dwalin sped up his hits, following Nori, and then abruptly shifting to the air Nori was just about to slide into. Nori’s jaw ran neatly into Dwalin’s fist in his attempt to avoid Dwalin’s other blows.

Nori gasped, his eyes going wide as he flew backward—for once, not of his own accord. He landed arse-first, slowly collapsing onto his back. “Wow,” he gasped, a loopy grin on his face. “What happened?”

The guard cheered and the dwarves around them yelled and stomped. As Nori sat in a stunned heap, Dwalin’s face fell. “Shit,” he swore, kneeling and cupping Nori’s cheek, “Are you okay? I didn’t think I was going to hit you that hard, I’m sorry.”

“Hi,” Nori beamed up at Dwalin. “You’re…good.” He nuzzled into Dwalin’s hand, lightly kissing the warrior’s rough, hot palm. 

There was more cheering and laughing. Dwalin’s forehead went red and he scooped Nori up. “Alright, we’re going to Oin.”

“‘k. I like Oin. I like you, too.” Nori giggled, cuddling into Dwalin’s arms. “My head is…really heavy.” 

“Uh, just try to focus.” Dwalin carried Nori up a set of stairs and down a long street to Oin’s apothecary. Oin was using a mortar and pestle when Dwalin nudged open his door and set Nori down on his table. 

“Dwalin, this is a surprise! And Nori…” Oin raised a wooly eyebrow. “What’s this, now?” 

“I hit him,” Dwalin admitted. “On the jaw, he went down pretty hard and now he’s loopy.”

“You hit him! You’re three times his size, what were you doing hitting him?” 

“Asked him to,” Nori said, thickly. “’s’ok.” 

“We were sparring!” he explained. “I didn’t just hit him out of nowhere, it was a match…” he hesitated. “Is he going to be okay?”

Oin grunted and huffed, holding a candle in front of Nori’s eyes one at a time, making sure his pupils reacted, then made Nori follow his finger. “Aye, he’ll be fine. No thanks to you. Or him, probably.” He gave Nori a gentle shake. “I’m sure you had this coming.” Oin’s expression softened. “He’ll be fine. Don’t worry.” 

Dwalin’s heart finally started up again and he sighed, sitting on one of Oin’s beds. “Oh Mahal,” he groaned.

“You sit with him; I’ve got more important things to do.” Humming to himself, he drifted away, continuing to grind furiously at his pestle. 

Nori swayed a little before he was able to concentrate on Dwalin’s face. “Hi,” he said again, still grinning. “I owe you.” 

“I think we can call it even,” Dwalin chuckled. “How are you feeling?”

“No, money. I owe you money. I feel…” Nori tittered. “I feel…golden. Kiss me.” 

“No, no, you are not uh, you’re not thinking straight,” he protested. 

Nori swung forward, almost toppling himself off the counter Dwalin had set him on. “Kiss me,” he repeated, grabbing for Dwalin’s shirt…which the other dwarf wasn’t wearing. He grabbed one of Dwalin’s nipples, his other hand catching in Dwalin’s ample chest hair. 

“Oh, ow, no, let’s remove your fingers from there, ow,” Dwalin’s hands curled over Nori’s, helping him down onto a bed and pressing his hands down. “You need to rest, alright?”

“Rest here,” Nori replied, lifting his head so he was muffled against Dwalin’s arm. 

“I’ll keep an eye on you,” Dwalin agreed, wishing that he had remembered to grab his shirt before carrying Nori to Oin’s.

“Yeah you will,” Nori agreed, lightly nibbling Dwalin’s forearm. 

“Stop that,” Dwalin laughed, pushing Nori back into the pillows and laying next to him on the narrow cot.

Nori was instantly pressed against Dwalin, head pillowed on the larger dwarf’s shoulder, one arm and one leg draped over him. 

“Fine, but no grabbing and no kissing.”

“Kiss-kiss?” 

“No.” 

Nori humphed, rolling over to give Dwalin his back. 

“Rest,” Dwalin murmured, rubbing Nori’s shoulders.

“…stay?”

“Yes.” 

Within moments, Nori’s breathing slowed and his body relaxed against Dwalin’s.

***

“Ughnnn…” Nori groaned, reaching up to rub his jaw. “Fuuuuck, what happened?”

Dwalin had fallen asleep next to him, but stirred. His arm was wrapped around Nori’s waist. 

Nori twitched, almost falling off the narrow bed. “I…what? D-Dwalin?”

“Nh,” he groaned, waking up slowly. The hair in his face was definitely not Thorin’s. “Nori?” Only Nori had hair like that.

“What’re you doing here? Did you have to punch me?”

“What do you mean? You told me to punch you!”

“Wh—why would I tell you to punch me?” Nori glanced around for the first time. “Are we at Oin’s?”

“Yeah, you were sparring, and-“ he nearly slid off the narrow bed, standing and then sitting on the next bed over. “-and you told me I wouldn’t be able to hit you, and I did… oh, you owe me money.”

“Oh. Ohhhh…I do. I owe you…” Nori groaned, carefully sitting up, cupping his jaw. “You…well done. No one’s been able to hit me—not even a glancing blow—in, what, three years?” he called, hearing a sound in the other room. 

“Three and a half,” Oin replied, through the door. 

“I just guessed where you were heading, it wasn’t that hard, I’m just glad it wasn’t worse than it was.”

“No, really. You’re good. What do you mean where I was heading? I don’t…I don’t follow patterns!” 

“You have the weirdest patterns I’ve ever seen, and they don’t fit together right, but you follow patterns,” Dwalin laughed.

“No one’s been able to work that out before. No one.” Nori narrowed his eyes at Dwalin, then grinned. Laughing, he lightly punched Dwalin’s arm. “You’ve earned that money…long as your guards didn’t steal it while you were cuddling me here.” 

“They’re not thieves!” Dwalin countered, smiling. 

“No, much worse.” 

“Mhm,” Dwalin made little strangling motions with his hands. “I’m just glad you’re ok.”

**Author's Note:**

> Where did this come from? We heard the song Hit Me With Your Best Shot and made us think of this.


End file.
